British Man Allegedly Discriminated Against for Wearing Makeup to Work

This is NOT okay.

We've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Makeup should be for everyone.

On Monday, a British man submitted a post to the Facebook group "Spotted Portsmouth," which compiles anonymous stories from people in and around the English city. In his post, he detailed a troubling incident that allegedly occurred at his workplace. "I've been working here for about 8/9months and I've never been reprimanded on my make-up before. Actually quite the opposite ... some managers have supported me and complimented my make-up," he wrote. "However recently we've had to go under new management. Earlier on in the week I came to work as my fabulous self and was told to take off my make-up. I was quite shocked." The man wrote in the post that after he refused to remove his makeup, he was allegedly told to "tone it down."

There's an obvious problem with this kind of double standard, and he was quick to point it out in his post: "I felt this was discriminatory? Obviously I'm not going to take off my make-up when all my other (female) colleagues are able to come to work as their fabulous selves. I might understand if my hair was dyed bright red (oh which some of my colleagues have) I might understand if I had bright blue eye liner on (oh which some of my colleagues do) I might understand if I came to work with bright green lipstick on (I'd be worried if any of my colleagues did) (btw every colleagues looking fabulous with their own look- I'm just illustrating my point)." He concluded his story with a reminder to own your appearance: "Guess what, this is 2017, a time of year where we celebrate Pride throughout summer and I look hella hot so deal with it! It's wrong to blatantly discriminate for whatever reason that may be." He also included a photo of the makeup look that caused so much trouble in the first place, and it's definitely worthy of the many 🔥 and 💯 emojis he used.

The man also pointed out that "there isn't any make-up policy at work," and that "a lot of my female colleagues wear more makeup than I do." Even if they didn't, though, there's still no excuse for an employer to tell an employee whether or not he can wear something harmless (as long as there is no written policy against it) — and if the employer did so on the grounds that only women can wear makeup, it could qualify as gender discrimination, which is just as illegal in U.K. workplaces as it is in U.S. ones.

While there's a reason for certain workplace dress codes, it's high time to get rid of rules that reinforce harmful stereotypes. Since the post was anonymous, it remains unclear whether or not the unfortunate situation had a resolution. We certainly hope it did.